Mekelberg: ‘Not many trust Netanyahu, he keeps changing narrative to suit personal, political needs’

Mekelberg: ‘Not many trust Netanyahu, he keeps changing narrative to suit personal, political needs’

We’re going to talk more about this now with Yosi Meccleberg from Chadam House who joins me to get a bit more analysis. Yosi, here we are heading into these new talks, these indirect talks. Tell us a bit more about what you think we can expect from all of this. Can we be hopeful? Uh, good afternoon. I think those are tough tough talks there, but it’s better to have talks even if indirect that not having talks at all. But there are still stumbling block uh blocks there. We see that President Trump is is is trying to create this optimism and talking about quick uh solutions to this obstacles in in in the negotiation. But those are going to be tough talks when you know there are issues like the release of the hostages and exchange of of Palestine prisoners including 250 that that are sentenced for lifetime which is something that difficult for Israel to to swallow. So they have to decide exactly who are the 250. Can can Hamas find all for instance the the bodies of of the hostages that were killed? Then the issue of where Israel is withdrawing and at what pace in in in Gaza. And of course one of the major issues for Hamas, it’s whether it’s it’s whether it agrees to disarm and again at what pace and how and some of its people live in Gaza. So I think we can be cautiously optimistic, but those are still tough negotiations. Certainly there is a note of positism though from the president of Egypt. Of course those talks are being held in Egypt who has praised Donald Trump’s plan ahead of those talks. Do you think that this plan is really different from things we’ve seen before? And will things be different this time around? I think what what we see is tweaking some some plans that were introduced before. I think the most important thing in the immediate term is ending the war because we have seen what this were the horrific consequences of the last two two years and it’s tomorrow it’s exactly two years since since October 7, 2023. So I think I think many of us thought that this war could and should have been concluding long time ago and saved a lot of the misery the suffering that we we we witnessed. But I think as in many cases in conflicts like this it’s between that the sides are getting to the point that there is enough fatigue to put pressure on them to stop and the involvement of a medi mediators. They also use their livers of power over them and influence in order to stop it. And it seems that in this case Washington, Trump himself personally tried to put all its weight in order to to to end the war. But as as far as the the terms, I think the conditions on the ground will dictate to a large extent whether each of of of the sides can improve their position over at this point. For instance, what relevance Hamas is going to have in Palestinian political system, in society post war, what happened to Netanyahu when the war ends because there will be demands for investigating October 7 and and and the way Israel conducted the war and its relations with the world over the the the last two years. So, we are in the first stages, but very important and crucial ones. Well, what are your thoughts on that last on that last point at how Israel, the Israeli public, members of opposition parties and even the far right in Israel are looking at Benjamin Netanyahu at this point? Do you feel like like there is a movement that’s starting to grow against him within Israel? I think sorry I think not many trust Netanya on a personal level because we see how he keep changing his the narrative his version of events to suit his his personal political needs even even his partners in coalition don’t don’t don’t believe him definitely most Israelis and and and the opposition and Israel Israel said for a very long time right now more than 70% that they preferred for many many months to see the end of war and see the hostages back. But it’s interesting to see the reaction in Israeli political system. You would almost expect the the ultra nationalism, the messianic elements within the Israeli government to threaten immediately that they would leave the government. They haven’t. They’re highly critical of the plan, but they are not threatening to leave the the government immediately because they know that they don’t have an alternative as such and they are afraid of of election. The opposition on the other hand said listen if if the right the ultra right doesn’t support you in in the parliament in theet will give you the backing in the for this deal because that’s what we are all interested in and then we need to decide when the the the call for election mind you that election are due anyway between now and next October. Yosi, thank you for that. Yosi Meckleberg there speaking to me from Chattam House.

Israeli and Hamas officials are set to hold indirect talks at an Egyptian resort Monday on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary. Many uncertainties remain about the plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group, a key Israeli demand, and the future governance of Gaza. Trump is seeking an agreement on Gaza, which he has indicated could pave the way for a revamped Middle East peace process that could reshape the region. For deeper analysis, Genie Godula welcomes Yossi Mekelberg, Senior Consulting Fellow at MENAP, Chatham House.
#Gaza #Israel #Hamas

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